Increasing disturbance

The visual presence of the dredging plant and increase in noise levels potentially could affect bird populations. However, dredging is only likely to cause low levels of disturbance over relatively short periods of time which are not predicted to adversely affect bird populations. It is recognised however that there are circumstances which can make the impacts more significant, e.g. sensitivity of location and weather conditions. Furthermore, other plans or projects, may increase the significance of the feeding areas, which needs to be borne in mind when considering ‘in combination’ effects.

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